The first version of this painting was very small, perhaps four or five inches wide—a miniature image holding all the immensity of anticipation and shifting archetypes that accompany motherhood. The gilded symbol glowing behind the moon and sky is known as the Triple Goddess, a simplified, modern representation of an idea that stretches as far back as ancient Mesopotamia. It represents the three stages of a woman’s life: maiden, mother, and crone.
The idea for weaving this symbol into a painting sparked in my mind during the final weeks of my pregnancy, which coincided with a Blood Moon total lunar eclipse. After eight months of feeling utterly abandoned by my creativity, with little desire to paint and even fewer ideas (it became apparent that I can only handle one huge creative project at a time, and this energy was currently directed inwards), I woke up one morning feeling deeply vital. My body radiated energy. The night prior, as the moon grew darker and redder, the sense of building power within me was immense. I was surprised to find that I was yearning to paint.
I created the little miniature of this image and sent it off in the mail as a surprise for a friend who is now also a mother. But so palpable was the energy in this tiny painting that I knew I would return to it. It felt like a touchstone for borrowed power, not the province of the individual, but a reservoir built by all mothers over the millennia. Symbols, with their innate depth and resonance, seem the only way to truly speak about such things.